Creative Play

This evening is the Artist's Reception at the Arenas Gallery in Visalia. Kathy and Steve Diamant, Kay Gaston, Jeri Burzin and I will be showing our arts and crafts. We mailed postcards and fliers to friends and art patrons. And we each have been told by many there will be a good response this evening. The Arenas' usually provide a very good spread. Laurel and Jay Bergman from Redwood City are coming specifically for this event, staying over night in our home. We will have a brunch for friends tomorrow and they return to the Bay Area in the afternoon. So all indications this will be a "party." I cannot shake a negative cloud around my head. Only nine days ago my sister died. She was my younger sister so her going before me is out of turn. With she and our parents gone, too, I am the only person living who grew up in our small family. I do have an adopted brother and step sisters and a half sister, whom I love, but I didn't live with them growing up. Of course, I...

A friend spent time showing me a little about the Internet this morning. She has a website, and a bloggers site and is further along than I am in understanding how all the parts fit together. So here I am trying out what she taught me. Adding images, and journaling and playing. It is a puzzle to me how all of this will evolve but I am excited about following this path to see where it leads. March 29-30th we will host a Three Rivers Artists Studio Tour. It is the 8th in the last sixteen, held every other year. Last time I was invited as a writer. When we held the artist's pre-tour, and visited one another's studios, the artists filled my studio, and were less interested in my writing, and more in the Ink Quilts lining my walls. To my surprise they considered them art. I hadn't really thought about. I made collages that were inspired by a dream. I had written a story about my ex-husband's grandmother. When I went to meet her, the first things she said to me was, "...

Yesterday I found a website about a group of orphans who were spirited out of Vietnam just before the U.S. got out of the war. There were people who had been working in the orphanages that feared for the children's lives. A network of people who wanted to adopt, were either all ready in place, or set in motion. I was thrilled to find this site. I read the entries from many thirty-something adults, who were the children that came through the Presidio, San Francisco, on their way to homes all across the country. For all these years I have wondered what happened to the chldren. Once or twice over the years the headlines would tell of an abusive adopted parent of this group of children. It left me with the impression that maybe the kids would have been better off left in Vietnam. Reading the stories of the young men and women about their adopted parents who loved and cared for them was such a relief to know that dozens and dozens of them found good homes. It sounds like many didn...

This is the beginning of learning how to use websites, blogger sites, and creative play on the Internet.